I forwarded Martha's medidation on VWs to several of my
friends. Ted in Hawaii replied:

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Ah - the joys of the mystique of the VW - I think that is it - although
I missed the part about the prune.

OK - no vw here at the moment, just a "politically correct" subaru. as 
mentioned, in a vw you do know that you are driving, for the vans, there is
that feeling of exposure, you are over the wheels - turning is amazing
and the slight knowledge fear that it is only a small piece of metal
between your legs and the car in front of you to give the edge to saver
(safer) driving.... I wonder, do/did vw van drivers have less accidents
in the forward direction???

and the bugs - great rattlers with a noisy engine - durable and always
up for more. My brother rolled one, got out, pushed it back right side up
and drove off. I flew the family squareback (and - ouch - bent the front
axle - of course I didn't know about it for a coupke hundred miles...

Still - they are some of the few cars you can still see all the parts of
that go into an engine AND understand... and rationally take care of 
on your own..... long life to vws

I confess - I keep on having the urge to buy a bus... maybe it is a
return to the times I missed, or to the times I had cruising america in
a vehicle during the summers. alas, rust is a factor in buying older cars
in Hawaii - and most of the buses I've seen have it to a certain extent.

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